Privacy Policy

The South Shore Convention & Visitors Authority values the privacy of every user of southshorecva.com ("Website"), any subdomains of our website, the South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority's South Shore Passport mobile application ("App") and services South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority makes available through its Website and App ("Services"). That's why we are doing everything we can to protect the personal information of all users of the South Shore CVA Website, App and Services. This privacy policy explains what personal information we collect, what we do with it, what we do not do with it, and how we keep it safe. By visiting this Website or using our App, you, the user, are accepting the practices described in this privacy policy.

Our Services are not intended for children under 13 years of age. You must be 13 years or older before using our Services. If you are under 13 please stop using our Services immediately and do not submit any information to us.
 

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have questions or comments about this statement or how we treat personal information, you can contact us at info@southshorecva.com, 219-989-7770 or send mail to:
South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority
7770 Corinne Dr.
Hammond, IN 46323
 

INFORMATION WE COLLECT

User-Provided Information: We do not collect any personal information except that which is knowingly and willingly supplied by the user. It is entirely voluntary for those using our Website and our App to provide personal information through e-newsletter lists, mailing lists, online request forms, contests, feedback forms, surveys, event registration, personal interest forms, signing up to use the App, etc. Any information that a user provides, such as name, address, email, ZIP code, gender, and income will be stored in a secure location and will be used only for those purposes for which it was given. When a user of our Services chooses to submit such information, the user is transferring that information into the United States of America and is consenting to such transfer. All data transferred will be/is encrypted (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure, or HTTPS) transfer, through Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL.

Location Information: We may use data transmitted from your mobile device to determine your location and use it to enhance your user experience and for the purpose of marketing and analyzing customer information. This information allows us to periodically determine your location.  

Device Information: We may collect certain information from your mobile device, which may include information about your device; information about your use of features, functions, or notifications on the device; and signal strength relating to WiFi or Bluetooth, and other technical data. We may collect this information even if you are not logged in to our Services.

• User ID: An automatically generated unique identifier for users (authenticated or anonymous) on the Services.

• Plan ID: An automatically generated unique identifier for any user (authenticated or anonymous) that adds any item to their plan in the Services.

• OneSignal Player ID: An automatically generated unique identifier for any user that accepts push notifications on the Apps.

• Firebase Instance ID: An automatically generated unique identifier for any user that accesses the Services through the Apps.

• Plot Projects User ID: An automatically generated unique identifier for any user that accepts location and notification services on the Apps.

• IDFA: An automatically generated unique identifier for any user that accesses the Services through the Apps.

Users of our website can always refuse to supply personal identification information, noting that choosing to do so may prevent the user from engaging in certain Services-related activities. Users of our Website and Services, such as e-newsletter subscriptions, may also withdraw consent for the use of their personal information and have the right to review their information at any time. To review, update, or delete your collected data, or to withdraw consent for use, contact info@southshorecva.com.

If a user would like to be removed from or change subscriptions to any of our newsletters, there is a link at the bottom of every newsletter that allows the user to do so.

On our Website we collect demographic data from Google's interest-based advertising with Google Analytics. Users of our Website can opt-out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising and customize Google Display Ad Network ads using Ads Settings here. We also collect the domain name from each user as well as statistical information such as the number of users and the pages viewed.

Our Services may use cookies, tags, or scripts to enhance user experience, track users’ movements on our Website, and to gather demographic information about our user base. On our Website, users will have the option to choose whether to “opt-in” for the use of cookies when a user accesses the site. If you, the user, chooses to allow the use of the cookies, you may, at any time, choose to “opt-out” of the use of the cookies.

A user's web browser places cookies on their hard drive for record-keeping purposes and sometimes to track information about you. A user may choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert a user when cookies are being sent. In this type of situation, please note that some parts of our Website may not function as intended.

Our Website includes social media programs and features, such as displaying user-generated content powered by Crowdriff, the Facebook Like button and widgets, and the Share button. If a user chooses to use these features, these social media programs and features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our site, and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. The social media programs, features, and widgets we use are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Website. Please be advised that a user’s interactions with these features are governed by the privacy policy of the company providing the feature(s) which may NOT be under the custody, control or policy of the South Shore CVA.
 

USE OF THE INFORMATION

The information that we collect is used to enhance the usability and improve the content of our Services. We use information that we collect or that you provide, including any personal information to:

• Register Your Account: Your name, email, and other information you share are used to register your account and allow you to use our Services on the same device in the future as well as on other devices from which you access the Services.

• Maintain Your Plan & Preferences: Your interest selections and any places, events, and tours added to your plan are used to persist your plan on the same device in the future as well as on other devices from which you access the Services.

• Enhance or Improve the Services: Your account information and preference selections are stored and used to enhance your use of the Services and to understand how you use our Services.

  • Device Information:

    • User ID: Your User ID is used to enable cross-device use of the Services.

    • Plan ID: Your Plan ID is used to enable saving of unique plans for use on the same device or other devices from which you access the Services.

    • OneSignal Player ID:  The OneSignal Player ID is a UUID (Unique Universal Identifier) that OneSignal creates per device per OneSignal App ID. The Player Id is generated based on the Google Advertising ID for Android and identifierForVendor for iOS.  It is used for the delivery of notifications to App users of the Services who have accepted notifications on their devices.

    • Firebase Instance ID: Google’s Firebase Instance IDs are used to identify individual installations of the apps for the purpose of improving the Services through monitoring analytics, crashes, and Android Cloud Messaging.

    • Plot Projects User ID: The Plot Projects User IDs are dynamically generated unique identifiers per installation of the app to connect the data generated by each device for the purpose of delivering location-based notifications to improve the Services and provide notifications about nearby attractions of interest.

    • IDFA: The Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) is a random device identifier assigned by Apple to a user’s device. The IDFA is used to deliver customized advertising. The IDFA is used for tracking and identifying a user without revealing personal information.

• Send you emails and respond to inquiries.

• Provide user support.

• Carry out other purposes that are disclosed to you and to which you consent.
   

DISCLOSURE OF THE INFORMATION

We may disclose your personal information to our vendors and other third parties we use to support the Service and who have agreed to keep personal information confidential and to use the personal information only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.

We may disclose your personal information to authorities if compelled to by a court order. We may disclose your personal information if we believe that you have violated a U.S. law or our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy or if we believe that a third party is at risk of bodily harm. We may also report you and release your information to third parties if we believe that it is proper to do so for legal reasons. You release us from any damages that may arise from or relate to the release of your information under the conditions listed in this paragraph.

We may also disclose personal information to a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, reorganization, dissolution or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation or similar proceeding.
 

MODIFYING OR DELETING YOUR INFORMATION

South Shore CVA will retain the personal data we process until the user notifies us that he/she no longer wishes to receive the services or information for which the data was collected or withdraws his/her consent. After creating an account, you may be able to edit information submitted through the Services by accessing your account.  If you want your personal information to be removed from our database please contact us. South Shore CVA will retain and use this personal information as long as necessary for the purposes for which the personal data was processed, enforce our agreements, resolve disputes or to comply with our legal obligations. Some information may still be stored in a web browser’s cache or in other devices.
 

THIRD PARTY SITES

Our Website and App contain links to other websites owned and operated by other businesses. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the information collection processes on these websites and cannot control how the information is used. South Shore CVA does not have access to private and personal information gathered by those websites, unless it is explicitly mentioned in this privacy policy.
 

SECURITY

We use commercially reasonable efforts to keep your personal information secure. We make no guarantees, however, as to the security or privacy of your personal information. To protect your personal information, we recommend you use firewalls, anti-virus, spyware and other encryption methods when submitting personal information or content to us
 

CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY

The South Shore CVA reserves the right to change and update its privacy policy. Any changes to the privacy policy will be posted on this Website.